Recording mechanism



June 16, 1942. H N DEANE ETAL 2,286,902

RECORDING MECHANISM Filed March 3, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet l June 16, 1942.f H. N. DEANE ETAL RECORDING MECHANI SM Filed March 3, 1941 4Sheets-Sheet 2 mmv June 16, 1942. H, N, DEANE ETAL 2,286,902

RECORDING MEGHANISM Filed March 5, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 L QmsA 27e lJune 16, 1942.

H. N. DEANE EI'AL RECORDING MECHANI SM Filed March 3, 1941 h 4Shams-Sheet 4 wNmN.

l llll Il llll Il ll Ill Patented `lune 16, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE 2,286,902 RECORDING MECHANISM Henry N. Deane and James A.

Simplex Time Recorder Co.,

Mass., assignors to Dell, Gardner,

9 Claims.

This invention relates to recording mechanism such as workmens timerecorders in which successive records are stamped or printed in verticalcolumns on a card or other record sheet during a deiinite period oftime, such as a twentyfour hour day.

Advantages in computation may be secured by placing the earliest recordsat the bottom of the column, with successive later records upwardlydisposed relative thereto. This brings the smaller time gures below thelarger ones in each halfday period and thus facilitates subtraction infiguring elapsed time.

It is the general object of our invention to provide improved means forprogressively and positively lowering a card support in a recordingmechanism and for returning the support to raised position after thesupport has reached its lowest position.

A further object of our invention is to accomplish the return upwardmovement of the support quickly but without increased load on themechanism which moves the support.

We also provide means for temporarily locking the support in eXtremeraised position until the irst downward movement is to be effected.

Our invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of partswhich will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

A preferred form of the invention is shown in the drawings, in which--Fig. 1 is a front elevation of parts of a time recorder lembodying ourimprovements;

Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation, taken along the line 2-2 in Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial front elevation, looking in the directionof the arrow 3 in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an enlarged partial side elevation,

looking in the direction of the arrow 4 in Fig. 3; f

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing certain parts in adifferent position;

Fig. 6 is a sectional plan View, taken along the line 6-6 in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Figs. 4 and 5 but i showing the parts inanother position;

Fig. 8 is a partial sectional rear elevation, taken along the line 8-8in Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a side elevation showing the parts in the position assumedwith the card support in its lowest position;

Fig. 10 is a detail sectional plan view, taken along the line l0--|0 inFig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a side elevation showing the relation of the rack and pinionat the end of the upward movement of the card support,-

Fig. 12 is a partial side elevation of the ratchet feed mechanism forthe rack gear;

Fig. 12a is a View similar to Fig. 12 but showing certain parts in adifferent relation;

Fig. 13 is a side elevation of parts of the actuating mechanism for theratchet feed;

Fig. 14 is a partial rear elevation showing a card-operated switch;

Fig. 15 is a rear elevation showing the switch in closed position;

Fig. 16 is a partial sectional side elevation, taken along the line|6-|6 in Fig. 14; and

Fig. 17 shows a reverse arrangement of the ratchet feed.

Referring to the drawings, we have shown portions of a workmans timerecorder having type wheels W (Fig. 2) a type ribbon R and a stampinghammer H mounted to swing with a square shaft H (Fig. 1) pivoted in theside frame members of the recorder. These parts are of the usualconstruction, and the operating mechanism therefor is not shown hereinas it forms no part 0f our present invention. We have shown a card guideG mounted for periodical transverse adjustment along guide rods 20 and2|, but the mechanism for eiecting such transverse adjustment is alsoomitted.

The card support in the card guide G comprises a card-engaging member 24(Figs. 2-4) having a raised projection 25 at its rear edge. The member24 is secured at the upper end of a slotted plate 2l (Figs. 14 and 16)which is slidably secured by a screw or rivet 28 at the side of a rackbar 29 (Figs. 9 and 10). The rack bar 29 projects rearward from aguide-bar 39 (Fig. 5) which is vertically slidable in a fixed verticalguideway 3|, which in turn is secured by a bracket 32 to a xed cross bar33.

At its lower end, the plate 21 (Figs. 14 to 16) is provided with anoffset end portion which is pivotally connected at 36 to a lever 31,which lever in turn is pivoted at 38 on a metal plate or bracket 39. Theoffset end of the plate 33 is riveted to the side of the rack bar 29 asindicated at 4i) in Fig. 6.

A plate 4| of suitable insulating material, such as hard rubber, isfixed to the front face of the metal plate 39, and the plate 39 is cutaway as shown in Figs. 14 and 15 so that terminals 42 and 43 may bemounted on the insulating plate 4|.

A lever 44, formed in whole or in part of insulating material, ispivoted at 45 to the plate 4|. Contact points 46 and 41 are mounted onthe terminal 42 and lever 44 respectively, and the contact point 41 isconnected by a flexible wire 48 to the terminal 43.

When the points 46 and 41 are engaged, as shown in Fig. 15, an operativecircuit is completed to energize suitable stamping mechanism and actuatethe hammer H. This stamping mechanism forms no part of our presentinvention and may be of the type shown in detail in the patent toWatkins, No. 2,102,171. The lever 44 (Fig. 14) has a stud 59 at one endengaged by a cam latch 5| pivoted to the lever 31 in its free end. Aspring 52 presses the latch 5| against the'stud 59, and a spring 53normally raises one end of the lever 31 and the latch 5| and causes theother end of the lever to engage a stop 54.

The latch 5| has upper and lower cani faces engaging the stud 50. As thelever 31 and latch 5| are pressed downward by the card C, the latch 5|will swing to the right until it passes below the center of the stud 59,whereupon the upper cam face will quickly shift the lever44 to theposition shown in Fig. l5, completing the stamping circuit.

As the latch 5| thereafter moves upward, the upper cam face will pressagainst the stud 5D and will hold the circuit closed until the latchpasses above the center of the stud 59, whereupon the lower cam facewill shift the lever 44 abruptly to the open-circuit position shown inFig. 14.

We have thus provided an extremely simple make-and-break switch for thecircuit which controls the stamping mechanism.

With the construction described, it will be seen that in order to makean impression the card C (Fig. 14) must be pressed against thesupporting member 24 and that said member must be thereby depressedrelative to the temporarily stationary rack bar 29 until thecarddepressed lever 31 moves the latch 5| to the position shown in Fig,and closes the stamping circuit. The card can only be stamped when i inthe lowest position permitted by the setting of the rack bar 29.

We will now describe the mechanism for actuating and controlling therack bar 29 in its vertical sliding movement.

The rack bar 29 isnormally engaged by the teeth 69 (Fig. '7) of amutilated pinion 6| fixed on a cross shaft 62 mounted in bearings in thefixed frame F (Fig. l) of the recording mechanism. A ratchet 63 (Fig.12) is xed to the outer end of the shaft 62 and is engaged by a stud 64on a link 65 pivoted at 66 (Fig. 13) to a feed lever 61. The upper endof the lever 6,1 is mounted on a xed pivot 61 (Fig. l) and the lower endis bent forward and upward as indicated at 68 (Fig. 13) around the edgeof a timing disc 69 which is continuously rotated by a pinion 19 (Fig.l) driven from the time mechanism.

Trip pins 12 (Fig. 13) are mounted in selected positions on the timingdisc 69 and engage the concave surface 13 of the end portion 68 of thefeed lever 61. Such engagement swings the lever 61 to the right in Fig,13 and also moves the stud 64 to the right from the position shown inFig. 12 to that shown in Fig. 12a. A spring 14 (Fig. 13) draws the link65 downward as its movement to the right is completed and causes thestud 64 to drop below and at the right of the stud 15.

The stud 15 is xed in a lock lever 16 mounted on a xed pivot 11 anddrawn downward by a spring 18. The lever 16 carries a lock stud 19normally engaging the rear face of one of the ratchet teeth andpreventing overthrow or excess forward movement of the ratchet as afeeding movement is completed.

Continued movement of the timing disc 69 causes the pin 12 to pass abovethe point of the feed lever portion 68. The feed lever 61 is thereuponswung to the left by a spring 89, causing the stud 64 tc engage andraise the stud 15 in the lock lever 16, which in turn removes the lockstud 19 from operative position.

The stud 64 then advances the ratchet one f tooth space, at the sametime clearing the stud 15 and thus releasing the lock stud 19. The lockstud then prevents over-feed. The usual holding pawl 83 (Fig. 12) andpawl spring 94 are provided, to prevent rearward movement of theratchet. A guide-plate 85 is xed above the path of movement of the link65 and prevents the stud 64 from lifting away from the ratchet toothwith which it is engaged during its feeding movement. v

By the feed mechanism above described, th shaft 62 and mutilated pinion6| are intermittently advanced Step by step at any desired intervalsduring the twenty-four hour rotation of the timing disc 69. At eachadvance movement of the pinion in a clockwise direction (as viewed inFigs. 5, '1, 9 and 1l) the rack bar 29, together with the card supportand switch mechanism,I willbe lowered one space in the fixed verticalguideway 3|.

The lowermost operative position of the card support is shown in Fig. 9,with the last tooth 69a of the pinion 6| engaging the top tooth of therack bar 29.

On the next advance movement of the pinion 6|, the pinion will assumethe position shown in Fig. 11, with the end pinion teeth |59a and 6Dbout of engagement with the rack bar 29. The rack bar and card supportwill then be returned to the raised position shown in Fig. 4 by a lever(Figs. 4 and 9) pivoted at 9| Vand having a pin and slot connection witha plate 92 secured to the lower end of the rack bar 29 by one or morescrews 93. A tension spring 94 moves the lever 90 and the connected rackbar 29 upward when the parts are released by the pinion 6|.

The rack bar as thus far described is free to slide in the guide 3| andcould be depressed to any desired extent by merely inserting a card andpressing downward on the card support 24. In order to prevent such freedownward movement, we provide a latch 96 (Figs. 3-9) pivoted at 91 tothe plate 92 and held against a stop 98 by a spring 99. A pinion |00(Fig. 4) having a single tooth IDI is fixed to the shaft 62 and is sopositioned angularly that the pinion tooth llll will be engaged by theoffset lower end of the latch 96 when the rack bar isv released andreturns to its highest position.

At the next advance movement of the mutilated pinion 6|, the tooth lillwill be removed from holding position but until such advance movement,the engagement of the latch 96 and tooth |0| prevents manual downwardshifting of the rack bar and card support.

In order to provide initial downward movement of the rack bar 29 andcorrect re-engagement of the pinion teeth 69 with the rack, we provide agear plate IIU (Figs. 6, 9, 10 and l1) fixed to the side of the pinion6| and having at least one tooth (Fig. 11). The tooth engages a block||2 at the lower end of the rack bar 29 when the bar is in highestposition and pushes downward on the next advance movement of the shaft62, thus giving the rack bar its initial downward movement and causingthe teeth 60 to correctly engage the rack.

It will be understood that the advance movement of the pinion 6| fromthe position shown in Fig. 9 to the position shown in Fig. 11 slightlydepresses the rack bar before it releases the bar for return upwardmovement.

We thus provide for automatic intermittent down feed of the rack bar 29and card support 24, with automatic and abrupt return to the highestposition, and we prevent free or unauthorized shifting of the rack barat any time. Furthermore, the return upward movement is effectedentirely by the spring 94 and puts no additional load on the feedingdevices or on the time mechanism associated therewith.

While our card-positioning mechanism is particularly designed forintermittent down feed as described, it may readily be reversed to feedintermittently upward, if for any reason this is found desirable. Such areverse feed arrangement is indicated in Fig, 17, with the ratchet |20rotatable clockwise, with the feed stud |2| in the link |22 engaging theratchet teeth below the center, and with the lock lever |24 and holdingpawl |25 similarly reversed. With these changes, the same timingmechanism will produce intermittent feed of the ratchet in a clockwisedirection and intermittent raising of the rack bar 29 and card support24, with abrupt return.

If this reverse construction is used, the spring 94 (Fig. 9) will bemade lighter and only sufficient to partially counterbalance thevertically movable parts associated with the card support. The latch 96and single-tooth pinion |00 will also be omitted.

Having thus described our invention and the advantages thereof, we donot wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise thanas set forth in the claims, but what we claim is:

1. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide anda card support movable therein, that improvement which consists inproviding operating means effective by successive feeding movement topositively and progressively depress said card support from an initialraised position and effective by a further feeding movement in the samedirection to release said card support, and means effective to abruptlyreturn said card support to initial raised position when said support isreleased by said operating means.

2. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide anda card support movable therein, that improvement which consists inproviding operating means effective by successive feeding movements topositively and progressively depress said card support from an initialraised position and effective by a further feeding movement in the samedirection to release said card support, yielding means effective tooverbalance said card support and to abruptly return said card supportto initial raised position when released by said operating means, andmeans to prevent downward movement of said card support after return toraised position until said operating means is given a further feedingmovement.

3. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide anda card support movable therein, the combination of a rack bar as-4sociated with said card support, a mutilated pinion engaging said rackbar, means to rotatably support said pinion, means to angularly advancesaid pinion to lower said rack bar and card support and to thereafterrelease said rack bar, and means to abruptly return said card support toinitial raised position after release.

4. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide anda card support movable therein, that improvement which consists inproviding means to move said card support positively downward from anextreme raised initial position and thereafter abruptly upward to saidinitial position, which means comprises a rack bar associated with saidcard support, a mutilated pinion engaging said rack bar, means torotatably support said pinion, means to angularly advance said pinion tolower said rack bar and card support and to thereafter release said rackbar, and means to abruptly return said card support to initial raisedposition after release.

5. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide anda card support movable therein, that improvement which consists inproviding means to move said card support intermittently and positivelydownward step by step from an extreme raised initial position andthereafter abruptly upward to said initial position, which meanscomprises a rack bar associated with said card support, a mutilatedpinion engaging said rack bar, means to rotatably support said pinion,intermitently acting means to angularly advancesaid pinion to lower saidrack bar and card support and to thereafter release said rack bar, meansto abruptly return said card support to initial raised position afterrelease, and means to lock said rack bar in raised position until saidbar is re-engaged by said pinion.

6. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guide anda card support movable therein, that improvement which consists inproviding means to move said card support intermittently and positivelydownward step by step from an extreme raised initial position andthereafter abruptly upward to said initial position, which meanscomprises a rack bar associated with said card support, a mutilatedpinion engaging said rack bar, means to rotatably support said pinion,intermittently acting means to angularly advance said pinion to lowersaid rack bar and card support and to thereafter release said rack bar,means to abruptly return said card support to initial raised positionafter release, a latch on said rack bar, and a one-tooth collarrotatable with said pinion, said latch and tooth coacting to lock saidrack bar in extreme raised position after return of said rack barthereto and until said rack bar is ree-engaged by said pinion.

'7. In a recording machine having a substantially vertical card guideand a card support movable therein, that improvement which consists inproviding means to move said card support intermittently and positivelydownward step by step from an extreme raised initial position andthereafter abruptly upward to said initial position, which meanscomprises a rack bar associated with said card support, a mutilatedpinion engaging said rack bar, means to rotatably support said pinion,intermittently acting means to angularly advance said pinion to lowersaid rack bar and card support and to thereafter release said rack bar,means to abruptly return said card support to initial raised positionafter release, and a device rotatable with said pinion and engaging anabutment at the lower end of said support, a latch mounted on saidcardengaged member and movable vertically thereby, and a spring to'swing said latch toward the `free end of said lever, said latch andlever having coa-cting cam surfaces effective to swing said lever downwith a snap action to close said switch and circuit as said latch isdepressed and to swing said lever up with a snap action to open saidswitch and circuit as said latch is raised with said card-engagedrmember by said first spring on release of pressure on said member.

9. In a recording mechanism having `a card guide, a card support mountedtherein, electrically actuated impression mechanism, and an operatingcircuit therefor, that improvement which comprises a switch on said cardsupport, a cardengage-d member mounted on said support and havingvertical movement relative thereto, a spring to raise said member, acircuit-controlling lever for said switch mounted on said support, alatch mounted on said card-engaged member and movable verticallythereby, and a spring to swing said latch toward the free end of saidlever, said lever having a roll on said free end and said latch havingoppositely inclined cam surfaces engaging said roll and effective toswing said lever down with a snap action to close said switch andcircuit as said latch is depressed and to swing said lever up with asnap action to open said switch and circuit as said latch is raised withsaid card-engaged member by said first spring on release of pressure onsaid member.

HENRY N. DEANE. JAMES A. DELL.

